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Sony is said to be working on a new Playstation gaming console, to be named Playstation Orbis, according to a source.

Sure, Sony refused to comment, as did Microsoft who denied rumors it is busy working on a new Xbox 720 console.

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Even if Sony doesn’t want to admit any development, it appears there is a PlayStation-related project currently under development. The proof behind this is their website address. SCE DevNet means Sony Computer Entertainment Developer Network, which is where Sony prepared projects like PS2, PS3, PSP, PSVITA and others.

The new Xbox 720 is rumored to be six times faster than Xbox 360, feature a SoC chip (produced by Intel and IBM) and an AMD 7000 series Southern Islands GPU. The PlayStation Orbis apparently will come with a x64 AMD processor and AMD Southern Islands GPU. This GPU will be so powerful it will support 4096 x 2160 gaming resolutions, which means Sony is preparing for 4K HDTV resolutions.

It appears that Sony will use AMD chips for the Orbis gaming console, unlike the PS3 that uses a cell microprocessor and an NVIDIA G70 GPU. A cell microprocessor failed to meet Sony’s expectations in time, because Xbox consoles are also capable of running the same games that run on the PS3.

The source didn’t say a word about the disc drive, but I assume there are two options: the console will be shipped with an improved Blu-Ray disc driver or Sony will not include any disc drive and stream games through their Entertainment Network. The second option might be problematic to some players because it will require faster Internet connections.

Unfortunately, Orbis will require every gamer to register each game on the Sony Entertainment Network so this could mean that a game would run only on one console. If this turns out to be true, second-hand console games will become history.

There is no word yet about games protection. When the PS3 was released, the console seemed impossible to hack. Until George Hotz, previously responsible for unlocking Apple’s iPhone, decided to bypass protection for the PlayStation 3. Even if Sony released firmware after firmware, in the end Sony sued George Hotz and settled with him under the condition that he would never again resume any hacking work on their products.

In 2005 Sony announced the PlayStation 3 at the E3 conference. Unfortunately for gamers, in 2012 Sony’s CEO Kaz Hirai announced that there are no plans to reveal a new PlayStation console during the 2012 E3 conference and the PS3 has a 10-year life cycle. The source said that Sony plans to release PlayStation Orbis in time for the 2013 holiday season.